Jose Mourinho refused to talk up Chelsea's quadruple chances after they eased into the League Cup semi-final on Tuesday.
Chelsea cruised into the last four with a routine 3-1 win at Derby County after goals from Eden Hazard, Filipe Luis and Andre Schurrle.
Craig Bryson had briefly made it 2-1 before Jake Buxton was sent off for the hosts with 12 minutes left.
It keeps the Premier League leaders on course for a clean sweep this season but Mourinho remained coy.
He said: “We don’t speak about it, you (the media) spoke a few weeks ago about being unbeatable in the Premier League and we never did it, now you speak about the quadruple but we haven’t done it. We have our feet on the ground.
“We can win on Monday (at Stoke City) but it will be difficult. The important thing is to win on Monday. I was saying before we don’t choose competitions, we don’t choose matches and the next match is the most important thing.
“We go like this and I think the players showed that attitude, by playing a very professional game. The mentality is part of the group DNA. I don’t need to push people to play a certain game, I don’t need to press them to be ready.”
Kurt Zouma had to be carried off after a clash of heads with Petr Cech just before half-time and Mourinho was initially frustrated with the speed of the stretcher bearers getting onto the pitch.
He tried to hurry them up and Cesc Fabregas and Cesar Azpilicueta helped carry the stretcher but Mourinho admitted he did not know the rules.
“Zouma is fine, he was just a bit dizzy and had some blood in his mouth. He has some exams with the doctors but he’s fine,” said Mourinho, who confirmed Didier Drogba avoided any major problems after coming off with an ankle injury.
“It was easy to understand there was some trouble but I had no idea what was going on as I couldn’t see from the distance.
“They (the stretcher bearers) were walking and afterwards I was informed that’s the direction they have, they can’t run.”
Derby had rallied after Bryson swept in with 19 minutes left but Buxton was dismissed for pulling back Loic Remy seven minutes later.
Keeper Lee Grant looked to have handled outside the box as he slid in at Remy’s feet in the same incident and Derby manager Steve McClaren felt the decision to dismiss Buxton was wrong.
“Absolutely, I have seen it quite a few times and I don’t think it would have been given in the middle of the park or anywhere else,” he said.
“I have discussed it with him (the linesman) and he gave what he saw and I believe it was wrong. There was a little tussle and we couldn’t believe it when Buxton was sent off.
“We thought Lee Grant was going and we were getting (Kelle) Roos ready. It was a big surprise, a big decision – a poor decision – it might not have changed the result but it robbed us of the last 15 minutes after the goal.”
But McClaren felt his side, third in the Championship, proved themselves against Chelsea.
“I was so proud of the players,” he said. “We grew in terms of the performance and how I wanted to play. We were nervous at the beginning but overall we’re so proud.
“We restricted Chelsea to very few chances but they were very clinical and that’s why they are one of the best teams in Europe.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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